Shadow sat at the bar with the letter of his next assignment, He frowned as he read it over and over. It didn’t seem correct, but he shrugged and threw his coat over his shoulders, then headed out the door into the cold air of the Crystal Empire. He was used to the cold, but couldn’t help but shiver from it hitting his scales. He snuggled more into his coat and took off into the sky to head to Manehatten.
It was morning when he got there, the streets were quiet without ponies bustling and pulling carts. He landed on the street and opened a portal to pull out his scythe as he headed to where the warehouses are kept.
When he got there, he heard a mare voice talking inside the closest one. He leaped onto the top of the warehouse and looked in while distributing his weight. He saw a mare was balancing on a robot while sliding an eye into its socket. She matched the description and location. He waited until she was off the robot and was about to leave to cut a circle around him into the glass roof. It completely shattered and he felt the air from falling. Right before he hit the ground, he opened his wings to slow his fall and placed the blade of the scythe under the mare’s chin, but he hesitated. The mare was glaring at him through her good eye where others would cower and beg, but that’s not the reason for the hesitation. His stomach felt off, but he couldn't figure out why. His first response was to either get away or finish the job. He pulled it back and swung, but stopped at her neck. He couldn't bring himself to. Now she had a look of confusion. He let out a low growl of frustration and threw his scythe into the door behind him and took off through the hole that he made.
Once he was far from the warehouse, he leaned against the water tower’s leg and started trying to figure out why he couldn’t finish the job, she can’t use magic, she had no weapons pointing at him, and they were alone. He should have killed her at any moment. He grabbed his chest as pain shot through him. After a quick look over, he didn’t find any sign of injury or blood around where it hurt. He stood up and got an odd feeling that something was going to happen to her. That’s when he got a crazy idea to tail her.
He sat on the edge of the warehouse roof, trying to ignore his heart beating rapidly from coming back there. He watched as she went to a machine in the corner and poured herself a drink. Even though she looked shook up, she was still beautiful. He shook his head, wondering where that idea came from. He still needed to do the job, cause with doing work comes with respect, but it was still hurting like something was being torn out of his body. He wanted to go down there, but it would scare her even more. He opened his wings and took off, telling himself that he’ll be back
He broke into the library and headed to the medical section. If he could find out what is bothering him, he can figure out how to deal with it or get rid of it. He grew frustrated with each book that he searched through until he reached the last book of the row. Then the scales on his back stood up. He flew out of the doors, not bothering with the fact that they are broken and headed to his target.
When he arrived, he heard a scream rip through the air, it died abruptly as it started. He started to feel dread at what it could mean. He flew to the warehouse and peeked in. He sighed with relief that the mare was still alive, just paralyzed with fear. Her robot was heading with a steel bar on its shoulder, once it was close, it swung at the mare. He jumped in without thinking and intercept the swing. He grimaced as his left wing and claw buckled under the pressure, but he didn’t budge. He wasn’t letting this robot harm a hair on this mare. He yelled as he took another blow, “Go, try to find a way to shut it down. I’ll hold it off as long as I can.” He coughed as the metal broke off and lodged itself into his chest. His claw was moved out of the way for it to slam him in the chest, cracking a few ribs. He flew into the wall and fell to the ground. He couldn’t see straight but didn’t want to give up. He jumped at it and started to climb up to rip its eyes out. Before he could, it grabbed Shadow and threw him into the ground.
He sighed as he looked up at the stars on the outside and muttered to himself, “Is this how I’m going to die, for no reason at all.” He felt the robot pick him up and almost welcomed death when he heard the hum dying out. He opened an eye to see that its eye was growing dim and its grip was loosening. As he fell, he tried to land on his legs, but they gave out along with his strength.
As he was slipping out of consciousness, he heard the mare saying between sobs, “Hang on, help is on their way. Don’t die on me right now.”
Then next thing he knew was an irritating beeping that seemed to be getting louder. He opened his eyes to see that he was in a hospital, probably Manehatten’s, and the beeping was coming from a heart rate monitor. He laid back down and almost jumped out of his scales when he heard a voice say, “He’s awake ma’am.”
He looked over and said at the nurse who was changing his bags, “Excuse me, but exactly how long was I out and how did I get here?”
Before the nurse could answer, the door burst open and the mare from the warehouse landed on his chest. The nurse said as he levitated the mare off on him, “This brave mare brought you in a wagon and spent all her money on getting you in without any question.”
He looked at the mare and thanked her, but then she said with a stern but confused look, “Let's call it repaying a favor, Shadow, my name is Ivy Winds. As I was looking for an ID, I came across this letter. Why did you save me?”
He blushed from embarrassment and said, “I don’t know, I just did it was any thought, just on instinct."
As he was telling about it, she laughed and said as she kissed him on the forehead, “It’s called love, my fallen angel, and I feel the same way.”